The resolve of the banks in the country to shift credit focus to critical economic sectors of the economy has begun to yield positive results as the banks have raised credit intervention to the agricultural sector by about 40 per cent.

According to a report entitled,  “Bankers’ Committee Economic Development Agenda and Scorecard, “ released recently, agric lending increased by a nominal value of N212.64 billion as at October last year, which represented a 37.6 per cent increase over 2010 lending.

The report also indica-ted that lending to the agric sector rose by 2.78 per cent of total gross lending in the banking sector by October last year, as against the comparable period of the previous year.

The report, which was presented to the Bankers’ Committee, indicated that the increase in credit was made possible by definite policy measures initiated and implemented by the deposit money banks in the past year.

“Agric departments and desks were set up at all banks in the country to provide specialised agric lending services while thirty banking professi-onals were trained on agric commercial lending and Development Credit Authority and guarantees in the past year,’’ the report stated.  

The assets deployment of banks in the power and transportation sectors also got a boost as “144 professionals were trained across commercial banks and development finance institutions (DFIs) as well as government agencies to facilitate infrastructure project financing,” the report stated.

It will be recalled that the Bankers’ Committee in 2010, following a retreat in Calabar, Cross Rivers State, took a position to finance critical sectors of the economy as a major departure from financing operators in the financial markets and trading activities in a bid to ensure sustained economic development in the country.

The Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and the chief executives of the 24 banks collectively emphasised the critical role financial institutions played in national development, noting that the current structure of lending to the Nigerian economy was such that the bulk of aggregate credit was channelled mainly to financial market operators and oil traders to the neglect of key aspects of the real economy such as power, agriculture, transportation, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), among others.